Drop hammer



. G. R. MURRAY DROP HAMMER Filed Oct. 24.

Patented Nov. 9, 1926.

GEORGE E. MUnRAnor crmrannnssuns,rnNNsYLvA iA, essIs on ro otter renne-BUEG ENGINEERING COIVIEANY, or orrarasnnsenno, PE11NSYLVANIA,A CORBORAATIoN or PENNSYLVANIA.

DROP HAMMER.

Application filed October 24, 1921. Serial No. 509,844..

My invention relates to improvements in drop hammers and l ke machines,and more particularly to improvements in the control mechanism of saidhammers.

One object of my invention is to provide a control mechanism from whichthe 6XC6S7 sive shocks commonly found in the usual forms of controlmechanism are eliminated, thereby materially reducing the. wear upon andincreasing the life of the various elements." 1

Another object of the invention is to provide a control mechanism inwhich the adjustment of the ram stroke is greatly facilitated.

A still further object is to provide means whereby wear developing inthe elements may be readily taken up by adjustment.

The invention further contemplates the provision of means for manuallycontrolling and limiting the stroke of the hammerhetween the automaticstops, thereby permit ting short rapid strokes at the will of the catesthe anvil of a board hammer, 2, 2,

the side frames, and 3 the upper housing, 1n which are mounted the feedrolls 4:, 4.,which operate in conjunction with the board 5 to elevatethe ram 6, which latter-travels between vertical guides 2 W, on the saidframes 2, 2; In the present instance, the feed rolls'are clampedtogether upon the board, and are separated to release the board in theusual manner by means of the usual eccentric mechanism and a so-calledfront rod'Twhi'ch'constitutes the operating member for said inChanism.The-"mechanism so far describedi's standard, and will e "well understoodby all acquainted with the art V the operating member, extendsdownwardly from the housing 3 in the usual manner, but

has at the lower end a vlongitudinal'slotfi through which extends a pin7 in theiend of one. arm of a .bell crank lever 9 pivotally secured at10 to one of the sid'e'frames 2. The other. arm of the lever 9 issecured by means of a link 11 to the upper end of a control lever 12pivotally mounted intermediate'itsends upon a pin 13 secured-on the sideframe 2. VA springlis in the present instance mounted upon the pin 13,and is confined between a nut .15 on the threaded outerendof the pin andthe side of the lever 12, said spring tending to damp-enthe motion ofthe lever around itsv pivot. p l

Adjustably secured, oneateach end of the control lever 12,- is awedge-shaped dog, 16 and 17 respectively, said lever being so disposedthat normally one or other. of the dogs 16 or 17 extends into the pathof the ram 6 as it reciprocates between the guides 2 'In the. presentinstance, the dogs 16 and "1,7 aresecured to the control lever 12 bymeans of bolts 18, 18, which latter extend through the saiddogsandthrough suitable longitudinal slots in the control lever, thissecurlng means providing means for easy and quick adjustment of the dogslongitudinally of the control lever.

Asclearly shown in Fig. 1, the upper and lowerfledges of that side ofthe ram 6 to which the said dogs are presented are' beveled, asindicated at 19and 20, these beveled edges being adapted to engage thecorrespondingly inclined faces of the dogs 16 I and 17 respectively;

Pivotally mounted at21, to, the side frame 2 is a lever-22, one endofwhich underlies and is adapted to engage the lower end of the front rod7, "the opposite end of the le ver being connected by means of a rod 23to a lever '24 pivotally secured at 25 tothe said side frame. nectedibymeans of a rod 26' and a chain or similar flexible connector 27 to-atreadle-QS pivotallymonnted upon a ro,d.29.,mounted nearthebase of theanvil 1, said .treadle having an arm 29' i which is connectedrasshown-in FigQ'Q to one of a pair of board clamps- 2.9 whilch retaintheboard and ram in i the elevated position" :wheni: it desipe'd use wer-the ewe- Thele'ver Zis also con- '1 means of a spring 22 suspended fromthe vated position, the treadle 28 constituting the usual clamp control.The lever 24:hfl8 there n an. aperture- 30 which, when the lever is in adepressed position, is adapted to correspond in position with anaperture 81 in the side frame 2, and a pin 32 is provided for insertionin the said apertures whereby the lever may be retained inthe depressedposition. The lever 2t-and rod 23 are sup ported in a normal elevatedposition by 'usual manner by depressing the treadle 28.

When the ram'is' in the elevated position,

the upper portion of the control" lever 12 is shifted outwardly bycontact with the side of the ram, as clearly illustrated, the out- Wardmovement of the upper portion of said lever having the effect ofoscillating the lever 9 so as to elevate the pin 7* and con sequentlythefront rod 7, elevation of the front rod releasing the board from therolls in the usual manner. With the depression then of the treadle28,'the ram is permitted to drop, and as it nears the bottom ofitsstroke, the beveled'edge 19-comes into en gagement with the inclinedsurface of the dog 16 which by reason of the outward movement of theupper end of the lever 12 and the consequent inward movementof the lowerportion oft-the lever, has beenshifted into the path of the ram.Engagement of the dog '16 by theram has the eifect of'shift ing thelower portion of the lever outwardly and the upper portion inwardly,thereby oscillating the lever 9in such manner as to carry 2 the pin 7downwardly, thereby releasing the front rod 7, whichlat-ter falls bygravity and causes the feed rolls to grip the board to againefi'ectelevation'of the ram.

' In the upward travel of the ram, the beveled edge 20'engages theinclinedface'of the dog "17', thereby shiftingthe upper portion of thelever '12 outwardly and releasing the rolls in the aforesaid manner toag'ain permit the ram o fall, the cyclebeing repeated. As previouslystated, the'hammer is stop ped with the rani in an elevated-position byreleasing the treadle 28, and by means of the lever 22 the rod 23, andthe lever 2 1,, it is possible to stop themachine with the rain in thedepressed position, this being accomplished by forcing the lever 24,downwardly and inserting theipin 32 through'the aperture '30 and theaperture ,31'to' retain'the said, lever 24 in the; depressed position,"the depression of the lever 24 having the effect,

through the: lever 22, .of elevatinggthe 111201111 6 rod 7 independentof the control level 12,

and thereby preventing the engagement of the board by the feed rolls.The movement of the front rod 7 independent of the con trol lever 12 isprovided for in the slot 8 through which the pin extends; from thisposition of the ram, thepin 32 is To start removed, thereby permittingthe front rod 7 to drop by gravity, this movement of the leverhaving theeffect of raising the lever 241 through the lever 22 and the rod 23. Dueto the flexible connector 27 between the'lever 2a and the treadle, thismovement of the lever 24*. does not'aifect'the treadle.

It should be noted that 'the'fiexible counector 27 is sufiiciently longto permit dcpression of the treadle into the clamp-releasing" positionwithout affecting the position of the lever 24, and further,tlns'connector 27 should be of suchlength as to permit depression of thelever 2'by-depression of the treadle beyond the normal extent forreleasing the said clamps. "In this manner, when the board and ram areon the upstroke, an additional, pressure of'thetreadle beyond the normalrunning position will, through the chain 27, rod 26, lever 24, and 10C123,

oscillate the lever 22 in such manneras to elevate the front rod, and soshift the rollers to free the board, which with the ram re- 6 turns tothe bottom of its stroke. In this manner, the stroke of the ram may becon trolled within the limits of the dogs entirely independent of thenormal control elements and without adjustment of any part, this beingparticularly desirable for sprue drawmg and for series of short blows. V

It will be apparent that the extent of the quence-wear in the front rodand in the roll releasing lever is reduced to a minimum. The automaticaction of the control mecha-- nism is extremely smooth, and it will benoted that the downward movement of the front'rod ,7 to permit therollers to move against the board is controlled by the downward movementof the pin 7 which latter movement is in turn controlled byvthe outwardmovement of the lower end of the control lever 12, as efiected by thecam-like action between the ram and the inclined sur face of the dog 16,this action eliminating muchof the shock commonly experienced thedownward movement of theffront rod, and eliminating practically vallofthe wear at the lower end oft-11 F Q- QQ P let

tively gentle and progressive movement of the parts is also had at thetop of the stroke when the ram engages the inclined surface of the dog17, the shock at this point also being materially reduced. The reductionin the wear of the parts consequent to this aforedescribed actiongreatly reduces, and in fact practically eliminates breakage of theparts and the attendant interruptions in the operation of the machine.

It will be noted further that practically all of the wear in the controlapparatus occurs on the surfaces of the dogs 16 and 17, and further thatthis wear is substantially uniform over the entire length of theinclined surfaces of the dogs which are engaged by the ram. A fullcompensation of the wear occurring in the dogs can be accomplished bymerely adjusting the dogs inwardly towards the center of the leverlQ. Itwill also be noted in this connection that the adjustment of the dogs onthe lever 12 is an extremely simple one, being accomplished entirely bymanipulation in each case of the two retaining bolts, and thatconsequently all complication in adjusting the control to give strokesof diflerent lengths is eliminated.

A further extremely important feature of the invention is the provisionfor controlling the stroke of the ram independent of the normalautomatic control, this independent control being accomplished asdescribed by means of the treadle 28. This permits a shortening of thestroke at the will of the operator without reference to the automaticcontrol elements and without the necessity for adjusting these elementsto the desired short stroke. here a short light blow is desired or aseries of short rapid blows, this feature will be found extremelyvaluable, as hitherto blows of this sort have required a readjustment oflevers and dogs, with a consequent readjustment of these elements topositions giving the normal stroke.

1. In a machine of the type specified, the combination with an actuatedelement and actuating mechanism therefor, of a substantiallyverticallyreciprocatory control element connected with the actuating mechanism, anoscillatory element adapted to receive its motion by engagement with theac tuated element in its travel, and means interconnecting the controlelement and the said oscillatory element whereby the oscillatorymovement of the latter effects vertical movement of the control element.

2. In a machine of the type specified, the combination with an actuatedelement and actuating mechanism therefor, of automatic means foralternately connecting and disconnecting the said element from the ee-3. In a machine of the type specified, the

combination with anactuated element and actuating mechanism therefor, ofautomatic means for alternately connecting and disconnecting the saidelement from the actuating mechanism, means independent of saidautomatic means for disconnecting the said actuated element from theactuating mechanism, an operating element flexibly connected with theindependent control, and mechanism for gripping and anchoring theactuated element operatively connected with the said operating element.7

4. In a machine of the type specified, the combination with. avertically reciprocatory element and actuating mechanism therefor, ofmeans for operatively connecting and disconnecting the element and theactuating mechanism, gripping and supporting mechanism for said element,and an operating member having connection both with said connecting anddisconnecting means and with the element gripping mechanism.

5. In a machine of the type specified, the combination with a verticallyreciprocatory element and actuating mechanism therefor, of means foroperatively connecting and disconnecting the element and the actuatingmechanism, gripping and supporting mechanism for-said element, anoperating member, means, including a flexible element con-.

nectin the operating member with the con-' necting and disconnectingmeans, and means for rigidly connecting the operating member with theelement gripping mechanism.

6. In a board drop hammer, the'combination with elevating rolls, ofmeans for actuating the rolls to grip and release the board, boardclamping means, and a common control lever connected with both saidgripping and clamping means adapted in an elevated position to apply theclamping means, in an intermediate position to release the clamp. and ina depressed position to releasethe gripping rolls.

7. In a machine of the type specified, the combination with an actuatedelement and actuating mechanism therefor, of control means for themechanism comprising a substantially vertically movable element,mechanism for elevating the said vertically movable element, and meansoperatively asso ciated with said mechanism for retaining the element inelevated position,

GEORGE MURRAY.

